contact : talsmith09@gmail.com / @taylorsmithart

TAYLOR SMITH : BIO & Artist statement

EN: (b. 1993, Rochester, New York) is a visual artist based in Paris France (currently in residence at l’Entre-deux, Pantin and soon to be at the 6b in Saint-Denis), working primarily in mixed-media painting. She received a B.F.A. in Painting and a B.A. in Art History from Boston University in 2015, before completing an M.A. in Cultural Mediation at the École du Louvre in Paris in 2017. She was then awarded the Harriet Hale Woolley Scholarship by the Fondation des États-Unis in Paris (2017-2018). Taylor has participated in several group and solo exhibitions, primarily in Paris and in Boston, in addition to a mural project and residency at the Asociación Atlas for eco-tourism in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.

STATEMENT: Through an interplay of research and creative practice, my work stems from the interdisciplinary study of the many morphogenetic processes (in both biology and botany) and geomorphology. This group of natural laws generates the forms of all organisms and of our terrestrial environment. By manipulating and imitating these natural processes and adding organic, recycled and industrial materials to them, across the surface of the canvas or the printed image, I investigate the perpetual conflict between nature and cultural production, this insatiable desire of humans to “perfect” their environment. The concept of naturaficiality coined by the British artist Roy Ascott, and the conception of landscape in Japan (thanks to a research study in 2017), are at the heart of my technical and theoretical experimentations. In order to delve deeper into these diverse experiences of the landscape through visual observations made while traveling, I’ve acquired more specific knowledge through collaborations with scientists (geologists, biologists, botanists, landscape designers and environmental photographers). I employ many perpetually evolving techniques in order to juxtapose, fuse, then transform the fixed images that capture these morphogenetic processes (including microscopic and aerial views of landscapes being destroyed by humans: rivers filled with industrial waste, water and petroleum bubbles bursting…). Painting, collage and alternative photographic processes such as the cyanotype, anthotype (a photogram made from a photographic emulsion produced solely from crushed flower petals) and the chlorophyll print, in addition to printmaking techniques (primarily photogravure, offset lithography and monotype) allow me to juxtapose, fusion, then find the balance between natural and synthetic fragments from our world, that collide and combine perpetually beneath our eyes.

In addition to morphogenesis, the term symbiosis, a word with many different multi-disciplinary meanings is also at the heart of the many different tensions I investigate in my work. Firstly, in biology, symbiosis is defined as “the living together of two dissimilar organisms (as in mutualism, commensalism, amensalism, or parasitism).” It is also a psychiatric term used to identify “a relationship between two people in which each person is dependent upon and receives reinforcement, whether beneficial or detrimental, from the other” (Cf. Webster’s dictionary). Finally, in psychoanalysis, it reflects the physical and emotional dependence of a child upon its mother. It therefore always refers to a relationship that links two living beings. I explore the notion of symbiosis on both biological and interpersonal levels, as well as to investigate the pressing issues of anthropocentrism and sustainable development. During my master’s in cultural mediation at the École du Louvre (completed last year), I also spent two years studying the possible types of symbiotic relationships between the public and works of contemporary art. My projects revolve more largely around the desire to investigate the separation between the human environment and the natural landscape. I make recycled paper, pigments and natural paints, collect plastic bags, paper towels, leaves, oil and acrylic paint thrown away in art schools…Through this attempt to recreate a renewable cycle of artistic production, going back to our prehistory, I employ pictorial abstraction in order to generate an alternative aesthetic.